AUBURN, Alabama -- The persistence of Auburn's coaching staff is starting to pay off with Springdale, Ark., defensive tackle Josh Frazier, one of the nation's top 100 players.

Frazier, who originally arrived at Auburn on Wednesday for an unofficial visit as part of a long nationwide tour, stayed until Friday morning.

And Frazier came away so impressed that he pushed Auburn into his top five schools with Alabama, Arkansas, Texas A&M and USC, knocking out another SEC school in Georgia.

"They moved up probably a lot," Frazier said. "I'm probably going to tweak my top five. Georgia, they offered me, but they really haven't been recruiting me as hard as Auburn has. Auburn's coaches have been to my school lots of times."

Frazier, a 6-foot-4, 327-pounder who plays at Har-Ber, was impressed by the Tigers' coaching staff, a group that has three coaches with Arkansas ties in Gus Malzahn, Rhett Lashlee and Tim Horton.

Being in the top five could pay big dividends. Frazier plans to take all five visits, including a visit to Auburn tentatively scheduled for the Iron Bowl, and he may not make a decision until National Signing Day.

A mammoth defensive tackle with plenty of power, Frazier could play nose in either a 3-4 or a 4-3, and he was interested in the Tigers' 4-2-5 defense.

"In my position, when you're playing a true nose, a nose guard's really supposed to just take up blocks," Frazier said. "The reason (Auburn) runs a 4-man front is so everyone can be a pass rusher and make plays. It gets everybody involved."

Frazier also liked what he heard from strength and conditioning coach Ryan Russell about the Tigers' new program, and he spent a lot of time with Jeff Whitaker and fellow Springdale native Kiehl Frazier.

By the time his visit ended -- Frazier was originally planning to leave on Thursday -- Auburn had moved way up the list.

The Tigers' coaching staff made the most of Frazier's first visit, right in the midst of a bunch of visits that included stops at Texas A&M and Ole Miss.

"(Auburn's coaches) constantly were telling me to come to Auburn and they will take care of me, I'm starting to believe them now," Frazier said. "I think it's a good situation coming down here."